Whistleblower Group

March 10, 2016

Florida announced a lawsuit filed against Prime Resorts International, a central Florida-based timeshare resale company, and its President and owner, John Piccione for alleged violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida Timeshare Resale Accountability Act. The defendants allegedly made unsolicited telephone calls to consumers nationwide claiming to have ready buyers and renters willing to pay a specified price for consumers’ timeshare properties. The defendants collected upfront fees from consumers ranging from $595 to more than $4,000, and purportedly did not have buyers or renters lined up to pay any price for consumers’ timeshares. FL

March 10, 2016

The FTC and the DOJ brought a federal court action against KFJ Marketing, LLC; Sunlight Solar Leads, LLC; Go Green Education; and Francisco J. Salvat to stop a telemarketing operation that allegedly made illegal robocalls promising consumers energy savings, in an effort to generate leads to sell to solar panel installation companies. According to the complaint, defendants Francisco Salvat and his companies placed more than 1.3 million illegal pre-recorded telemarketing calls to consumers with phone numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry. The defendants allegedly claimed to be attempting to help consumers with their energy costs. FTC

March 9, 2016

Florida arrested a couple for defrauding the Medicaid program out of more than $180,000 in fraudulent claims. Oscar Alzate, 48, and Alba Garcia, 48, owners of Digital Radiology Center, Inc. and Medisound, Inc., allegedly operated a clinic without the appropriate licensure or proper oversight by a physician as required by Florida law. The investigation revealed that Alzate and his partner Garcia, neither who are physicians, billed the Medicaid program for services never rendered. The clinic owners also allegedly forged physicians’ signatures on medical reports and provided defective mammography services. FL

March 9, 2016

New Jersey announced that the owner of a now-defunct Bergen County used car dealership, D.I.B Leasing, along with three employees and a bookkeeper, have been charged with conspiracy, money laundering, and other offenses in connection with bank financing scam that allegedly netted $1.4 million in fraudulent loans for luxury cars. Prosecutors allege the defendants created fake employment records, inflated incomes, and supplied false pay stubs and fictitious employee verifications to dupe banks into approving auto financing for customers whose income levels did not qualify them for loans on the pricey vehicles. NJ

March 9, 2016

A Las Vegas court ordered Banc de Binary Ltd., ET Binary Options Ltd., BO Systems Ltd., BDB Services Ltd., and Oren Shabat Laurent to pay over $9 million in penalties and restitution for violating the CFTC's prohibition against trading binary options off-exchange.  CFTC